The use of competition and creativity as key-driver to promote scientific culture among students?

The pedagogical value of game generally speaking, has been extensively argued since the past by several studies of educational scientists (Fröbel, 1826; Decroly, 1921). This conception is based on the idea that young people owns great expressive and creative capabilities and that education, that often involved positive competitive interaction, is able to motivate young people to learn, involving them in knowledge process consistent with their interests and abilities. These kind of activities put at stake imagination and creativity and lead students to actively learn having fun together with their classmates. In this reality, competition, if proposed as further game element, could raise the quality participation of young people to didactical activities and enable collaborative learning processes in which everyone can give its personal contribution to the construction of knowledge seen as a great social game. Moreover, children and teens own several different languages and codes to express themselves that cannot be identified only with formal linguistic skills (oral and written) if we will not lose them (C. Edwards, L.Gandini, G. Forman, 1995)

The use of competition and creativity as key driver to promote scientific culture among students

The use of didactic games in order to promote scientific culture leads to innovative methodologies and technologies that can be very effective for the learning process of students or simply to make them more curious about critical disciplines

Developing Digital Competences. Work learn trajectories in Italian School System

The work based learning is the core European dispositions on educational and training issue and a pillar of the Europe 2020 strategy (EUCOM 2009/C119/02). Therefore, the educational system has to increase the quality of standards and learning results in order to response adequately to competence needs and to permit the successful entrance of the youth in the world of work. The SWA is a coherent reaction. Indeed, the current literature lead to reflect on the SWA as a new prospective of school and world of work relationship (Arlotti and Barberis 2015), and as a resolution for the skills mismatch (Caputo and Capecchi 2016; Froy, Giguere, Hofer, 2009; A. Green, Hasluck, Hogarth, Reynolds, 2003). In a context which needs a different school that provides different types of skills, it is desirable that a policy instrument such as the SWA – became mandatory by the reform “La Buona Scuola” (Law 107/2015) – is included in the scientific debate, especially for its potential to contribute to renewal of the school system. Many authors encourage the scientific debate regarding the question to clarify the peculiar characteristics of the SWA model in Italy and to begin effective reflection on its revolutionary impact for the school system. According to Tino and Fideli (2015), the SWA is a process, not only as an experience, a fundamental methodology to promote the knowledge of the world of work and the development of competences (professional and citizenship) thanks to the interconnection between formal-informal learning and creative combination process between theory and practice

The Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education Profile For Educatioanal Institutions of Hihger Education in Yogyakarta

ABSTRACT Purpose: This study aims to describe entrepreneurship education profile (EE Profile) of the five LPTKs in DIY. The research based on strategic role of EE in generating creative entrepreneurs who meets 21st century skills. The main target of the study was to describe; (1). Characteristics of lecturers and students, (2) Competencies to be developed, (3). Learning process, (4). Assessment to be used, (5). Needs of improvement. Methods: The study used quantitative approach this type of survey. The populations were lecturers and students participating in the course come from five LPTK. Data was collected by questionnaire and group discussions (FGD). This study used primary and secondary data collected from 48 lecturers of enterpreneurship and 246 students who joined in the entrepreneurship course. Data was analyzed using simple frequency analysis technique for quantitative data and descritive analysis for the qualitative data. Findings: The results revealed that: (1). Lecturers have minimum teaching experience (on average, 3.45 years). Most of the lecturers hold master degree but 33% of the total lecturers said not match to teach entrepreneurship related with their qualification. Only half of them who have had a certificate in entrepreneurship, but the training was less than 33 % of the total lecturers. Majority of the students (78%) has had appropriate background to be trained on entrepreneurship; unfortunately there are only a few who got training seriously. A few of students (19%) hold a certificate on entrepreneurship but most of them felt less adequate (2). Competencies tend to more focused on creativity and innovation, but less concerned to 21st centuryespecially on collaboration and communication. (3). Majority of students felt impressed that the learning occur innovatively, but students said the learning material was still out of date. ICT was not sufficiently integrated in the learning process to enrich learning materials and process. EE was still taught separately between theory and practice in an average composition of about 57% of theory and 43% of practice, (4). Assessments were still dominated by written tests, even used to assess skills as creativity and innovation that were not appropriate (5). Lecturers and students expressed need to learning model that emphasizes the practice more and reduces the theory. Project based learning tended to be developed and raised as alternative model for EE

Creativity, innovation and the ‘New’ MBA : China and the 21st century knowledge economy

This paper discusses the development of new models of business education in contemporary China. It describes the rise of the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree in the context of the growth of a new professional-managerial class in China, as a corollary of modernisation and economic reform. While the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) has its origins in the United States, it has grown into a globally recognized qualification for business status, particularly when acquired from ‘elite’ institutions in a highly competitive and extensively ranked global system. Its growth in Asia is reflective of the significant shortages of managerial expertise as economic success throws traditional family-based or state capitalist models of business organization into question. In China, the rise of the MBA has been more recent, although the original idea was introduced in the late 1970s, not long after the directive of Deng Xiaoping to modernise the economy. We consider the role played by new MBA programs, such as the Executive MBA (EMBA) and the International MBA (IMBA) as new educational products designed, not so much for the re-engineering of management practices in SOEs along more effective commercial lines, but rather upon developing an internationally networked business elite better able to engage with the new challenges of the global knowledge economy

Complex regional innovation networks and HEI engagement the case of Chicago

This article considers how HEIs engage within local complex development networks in order to develop the urban metropolis, using the case of Chicago as a specific example. It focuses on three main issues: how collaboration occurs amongst regional stakeholders; how goals are set and how shared goals have been created; and the extent to which there exist conflicting views amongst stakeholders, and their capability to create solutions where there are disagreements and clashing purposes. Chicago is in the middle of making a paradigm shift, with at its core an open system approach that includes a variety of ways to engage citizen-users as co-creators, including through user-driven innovation and digitalised services. In the metropolitan area there is a widely shared goal amongst stakeholders to develop and improve novel approaches for regional engagement to enhance innovativeness and competitiveness. The paradigm shift in regional engagement from building co-operation clusters to one of organisational betweenness and open systemic thinking requires new skills in management and leadership centred on interaction, co-creation and sharing of knowledge

Shear resistance improvement of oil-contaminated ballast layer with rubber shred inclusions

Railway ballast, which form an integral part of rail tracks, is highly susceptible to subsistence due to both vibration transmitted by the passing trains, as well as the breakage of ballasts with repeated impact. The resulting subsistence necessitates regular monitoring and maintenance, involving cost- and time- consuming remedial actions, such as stone-blowing and ballast renewal. Measures to minimize the wear and tear effect are therefore desirable to prolong the lifespan of the ballast layer. It is even more critical when the ballast is contaminated with oil and grease from braking wheels and leakages. This paper describes the inclusion of rubber shreds (≤10 mm in length, 1.5 mm thick) derived from the inner tubes of motorcycle tyres in oil-contaminated ballast layer for shear resistance improvement. The tests are mainly carried out in a standard direct shear test setup, i.e. shear box measuring 60 mm x 60 mm. Granitic stones of suitable sizes were sieved and used as representative samples of typical ballast. The samples were soaked in lubricant oil for 14 days to simulate the contamination. The direct shear test results indicated rubber shreds inclusion could effectively improve the shear resistance of ballast and expedient in deformation control with increased ductility of the composites. This could potentially improve absorption of impact, hence reduction of breakages of the ballasts. Clearly both mechanisms contribute to the overall reduced subsistence, accompanied by an increase in the shear resistance. However, further investigations in a dynamic test setup are necessary for verifications prior to field implementation

Design as a driver of innovation in the East Midlands

This study reports on research and consultation with local stakeholders to discuss the role of design as part of the innovation agenda in the East Midlands. A key finding of this research iss that the East Midlands has a very strong design industry and that businesses in the region use design to a much greater extent than in most other regions